JJB values its role in sports development

Sports shops need to sell equipment to help a sport grow, says the manager of a large UK sports store.

Manager of JJB Sports in Bournemouth, Jonathan Hill claims that if high street stores don’t sell equipment then it is left to specialists, which means equipment may be expensive and deter people from taking up the sport.

“Bowling is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK but the gear is difficult to get hold of.  There are specialists that sell bowling equipment and they have a monopoly on the market which makes it uncompetitive.”

JJB Sports trialled the sale of bowling equipment but sales were very low and the store abandoned the idea.

The store is not a specialist in any particular sport but has associations in rugby and football: “Being linked with popular sports shouldn’t stop someone from coming into the store to find products for other sports.  We’re not specialists in any product, we try to cater for as many people as possible.”

Mr Hill said that JJB Sports caters for athletics enthusiasts more than most sports.  Chairman of the Bournemouth Athletics Club, John Rumbold says that high street sports stores sufficiently sell athletics footwear, but to get hold of other equipment, the club use mail order specialists. 

 

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He said: “For any sports shop to sell what we require would be quite a lot because there is so much athletics equipment.  It would be a massive store.

“Its quite easy for us to use mail order and get the equipment we need, but quite honestly, when it comes to shoes and spikes you like to try them on and make sure it feels right - you can’t do that with mail order.

“What would be nice is if a company of their size (JJB Sports) were to offer the club members a discount for example, on buying spikes or athletics equipment.  I’m sure they would get more business, and we could send them along there (to JJB Sports).”

Mr Hill said that JJB Sports has no links to local sports clubs but said:  “We take into consideration any ways of giving incentives to customers to buy our products.”

Regarding Mr Rumbold’s comments he said the store will assess the situation before deciding to strike a discount offer with Bournemouth Athletics Club.